By By Brian Haines, Sports Writer
GREENVILLE — The Pirates have two more games left in the regular season and must win both of them to match their Conference USA win totals of the past two seasons.
East Carolina currently sits in 10 place in the conference with a 9-19 (3-11) record. The Pirates were 5-11 in league play the last two seasons, and will close out the year playing on the road at UCF tonight before hosting Southern Miss in the season finale Saturday.
The last time ECU finished with under five Conference USA wins was during Ricky Stokes final season in 2006-07 when the team was a dreadful 6-24 (1-13).
The last time the Pirates finished with a winning record was during the 1996-97 season when they went 17-10 (9-7) as members of the Colonial Athletic Conference.
East Carolina hosted UCF on Feb. 2 and lost 67-56 despite a career-high 28 points from Jamar Abrams.
The Pirates head to Orlando having lost six of its last eight games, with their most recent being an 85-73 loss to Tulsa. Junior point guard Brock Young scored a career-high 30 points, but the Golden Hurricane struck back behind a 34-point performance from Justin Hurtt who hit on 7 of his 11 three-point attempts.
The Knights, who occupy ninth place in the conference with a 13-15 (5-9) record, are looking to snap a three-game losing streak tonight when the two teams tip-off in Orlando.
On Saturday, UCF fell 121-115 to Marshall in a triple-overtime thriller. Taylor Young tallied a career-high 23 points in the loss, while freshman forward Keith Clanton notched his second double-double in a row with 20 points and 12 boards.
Isaac Sosa and A.J. Tyler lead the Knights in scoring as they both average 10 points per game, while Clanton is posting 9.7 points a night and a team-high 6.5 boards per game.
Young leads the Pirates in scoring and assists averaging 15 and six, respectively, while sophomore forward Darrius Morrow is scoring 12 points a night and pulling down 6.7 rebounds.